Objective To summarize the main research objects, methods and content of research on China's health development assistance, and to provide reference for expanding research directions in this field. Methods Databases including CMKI, Wanfang and VIP were searched in accordance with the determined search strategy to acquire Chinese literatures on development assistance for health. Content analysis was conducted and software NVivo 11 was used to code the contents. CiteSpace 6.2.R2 was used to conduct keyword co-occurrence analysis. Results A total of 180 articles were included, and the number of published articles increased over time. Events including the 50th anniversary of Chinese medical team dispatchment, the launch of Silk Road of Health Cooperation Initiative, and the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic marked a robust growth in the number of articles in this field. The main study objects were countries providing bilateral development assistance for health, especially China. The main study method was a qualitative research method based on literature and policy analysis. The main research contents included the ways and key areas of health development assistance, as well as suggestions for the future development of China's health development assistance. After the launch of Silk Road of Health Cooperation Initiative, the health development assistance had received further attention as an important approach and function of global health governance. Conclusion The existing research on development assistance for health is overly focused and redundant. In the future, more attention should be paid to other participants involved in the health development assistance and the situation of recipient countries. Empirical research methods should be used to conduct more in-depth research on issues such as project implementation and effectiveness of development assistance for health.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has spread quickly across 114 countries/territories/areas in six continents worldwide and has been announced as a pandemic by WHO. This study analyzed global COVID-19 epidemiological trends, examined impact of the pandemic on global health security, diplomacy, and social environment in China, and provided short- and long-term strategic policy recommendations for China’s subsequent preparedness and responses.

The WHO declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, and then a pandemic on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 affected over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with 25,541,380 confirmed cases and 852,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 globally, as of September 1, 2020. 1While facing such a public health emergency, hospitals were on the front line to deliver health care and psychological services. The early detection, diagnosis, reporting, isolation, and clinical management of patients during a public health emergency required the extensive involvement of hospitals in all aspects. The response capacity of hospitals directly determined the outcomes of the prevention and control of an outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all nations and territories regardless of their development level or geographic location, although suitable risk mitigation measures differ between developing and developed countries. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the consequences of the pandemic could be more complicated because incidence and mortality might be associated more with a fragile health care system and shortage of related resources. 2-3 As evidenced by the situation in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and other LMICs, socioeconomic status (SES) disparity was a major factor in the spread of disease, potentially leading to alarmingly insufficient preparedness and responses in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 4 Conversely, the pandemic might also bring more unpredictable socioeconomic and long-term impacts in LMICs, and those with lower SES fare worse in these situations. This review aimed to summarize the responsibilities of and measures taken by hospitals in combatting the COVID-19 outbreak. Our findings are hoped to provide experiences, as well as lessons and potential implications for LMICs.

Like rest of the world, the South Asian region is facing enormous challenges with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The socio-economic context of the eight South Asian countries is averse to any long-term lockdown program, but the region still observed stringent lockdown close to two months. This paper analyzed major measures in public health preparedness and responses in those countries in the pandemic. The research was based on a situation analysis to discuss appropriate plan for epidemic preparedness, strategies for prevention and control measures, and adequate response management mechanism. Based on the data from March 21 to June 26, 2020, it appeared lockdown program along with other control measures were not as effective to arrest the exponential growth of fortnightly COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. However, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have been successfully limiting the spread of the disease. The in-depth analysis of prevention and control measures espoused densely populated context of South Asia needs community-led intervention strategy, such as case containment, in order to reverse the growing trend, and adopt the policy of mitigation instead of suppression to formulate COVID-19 action plan. On the other hand, mechanism for response management encompassed a four-tier approach of governance to weave community-led local bodies with state, national and international governance actors for enhancing the countries' emergency operation system. It is concluded resource-crunch countries in South Asia are unable to cope with the disproportionate demand of capital and skilled health care workforce at the time of the pandemic. Hence, response management needs an approach of governance maximization instead of resource maximization. The epidemiologic management of population coupled with suitable public health prevention and control measures may be a more appropriate strategy to strike a balance between economy and population health during the time of pandemic.

Objective: A resilient health system plays a crucial role in pandemic preparedness and response. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has required all states parties to strengthen core capacities to respond to public health emergencies under the International Health Regulations (2005), the actions of most countries to combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has showed that they are not well-prepared. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the health system resilience of selected countries and analyze their strategies and measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This study selected five countries including the Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea (South Korea), the U.K., and the U.S., based on the severity of the national epidemic, the geographical location, and the development level. Cumulative number of death cases derived from WHO COVID-19 dashboard was used to measure the severity of the impact of the pandemic in each country; WHO State Parties Self-Assessment Annual Reporting (SPAR) Scores and Global Health Security (GHS) Index were applied to measure the national health system resilience; and research articles and press materials were summarized to identify the strategies and measures adopted by countries during response to COVID-19. This study applied the resilient health systems framework to analyze health system resilience in the selected countries from five dimensions, including awareness, diversity, self-regulation, integration and adaptation. Results: The SPAR Scores and GHS Index of the four developed countries, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. were above the global and regional averages; the SPAR Scores of Iran were above the global average while the GHI Index lain below the global average. In terms of response strategies, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. invested more health resources in the treatment of severe patients, while South Korea and Iran had adopted a strategy of extensive testing and identification of suspected patients. In terms of specific measures, all the five countries adopted measures such as restrictions on entry and international travel, closure of schools and industries, lockdown and quarantine. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of implementing these measures varied across countries, based on the response strategies. Conclusion: Although SPAR Scores and GHS Index have evaluated the national core capacities for preparedness and response, the actions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fact that most countries still do not build resilient health systems in response to public health emergencies. Health system strengthening and health security efforts should be pursued in tandem, as part of the same mutually reinforcing approach to developing resilient health systems.

Objective:This study aims at exploring the impact of the health resources allocation on healthcare seeking behavior of inpatients with different income in China. Methods:Data at individual level were collected from China National Health Service Surveys conducted in 2008 and 2013 , interlinked with the data of health resources in county level. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial regression and multilevel multinomial logit model were respec-tively used to examine the impact of the health resources allocation on inpatient visits and the influence of the choice of healthcare providers by inpatients. Results: The results show that the increase of the number of beds in primary health centers ( PHCs) and physicians in county hospitals increased inpatient visits within counties. The investments in health resources in PHCs had greater impact on improving the likelihood of inpatient visits within counties for the low-income populations than that for the high-income populations. Conclusion: Investments in health resources in PHCs are vital to improve the healthcare seeking behaviors of the low-income populations in China.

Recently , the country actively explores the pattern of an integrated healthcare which enables the as-sociation among hospitals of different levels , aimed to achieve maximum utilization of medical resources and lead a reasonable distribution of the patients .By reviewing the practices related to the integration of healthcare in Beijing , Shanghai , Zhenjiang and Wuhan city , this paper sums up in five typical mechanisms , i.e.organization and manage-ment mechanism , human resource management mechanism , interest distribution mechanism , service continuity and resources sharing mechanism .The effects of these practices were analyzed and the faced challenges were discussed . The following points were made clear during analysis and discussion:the sustainability of the collaboration mode and organization structure , human resource supports and incentive methods , health insurance guidance for hospitals and patients , two-way referral system and supporting measures , and building of information system .Then we put forward some suggestions , hoping to offer some references to the establishment of integrated healthcare in other regions .

Objective:To analyze the implementation and effectiveness of primary health care reform in Feixi county, Anhui province. Methods: This paper uses data analysis of interviews with key insiders, policy documents and archives, as well as institutional questionnaire survey and other methods to collect information, and then it com-bines qualitative and quantitative research to arrive at research findings through cross-analysis and interpretation. Re-sults:From 2010 to 2014, the reform enhanced the capacity of primary health care in four main aspects, including capacity building of primary health care personnel, network construction of primary health care system, improvement of working conditions, and system construction of institutional management. Accordingly, the human capacity of pri-mary health care personnel was improved, their enthusiasm for work increased, their income was raised, the working conditions were improved, the cooperation mechanism for vertical and horizontal health care services was established, and the consultation rate and primary health care utilization in Feixi county increased. Conclusion:Both the“bottom-up” exploration approach and “from point to area” implementation strategy adopted by Feixi county have not only been the core content of primary health care system’s comprehensive reform, but also effectively leveraged the other aspects of the reform. They have played an important role in deepening medical reform and establishing institutional mechanism of health care system.

Objective:The paper aims to explore the structure and effectiveness of three health service systems in Anhui province and provide policy recommendations to promote the integration of health care systems. Methods:By using typical sampling method, this paper conducts case study analysis of health service system in Ma’anshan, Feidong and Feixi county of Anhui province. The data mainly come from questionnaires for the institutions, doctors and patients, as well as from interviews with key informants. By integrating quantitative and qualitative data analysis, this paper uses social network analysis method to analyze the system structure and its degree of integration. Results:The degree of integration of health service structure in Ma’anshan is the highest, followed by Feixi, and Feidong is the lowest. The system effectiveness is same as the degree of integration. All three health service systems have advantages and disadvantages regarding to system integration. Conclusion:The effectiveness of health service system integration and its implementation is the product of combined effects of internal and external environment of each health service system. The reforms in Ma’anshan and Feixi health service systems have not only integrated health care structures, but also had a positive impact on the effectiveness of the health service systems.

Objective:To analyze reverse effects induced in the implementation process of“primary health care strengthening” policies, and the innovative initiatives and countermeasures raised in primary health care system’s comprehensive reform of Feixi county. Method:Based on the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis ( CDA) , this paper designs its analytical framework for policy analysis. Results:Many reverse effects appeared in the implementa-tion process of “primary health care strengthening” policies. However, through improvements in terms of manpower upgrading, network building, working conditions and management mechanisms, Feixi county has successfully strengthened the capacity building for primary health care institutions. Conclusions:The expected and unexpected re-sults should be evaluated systematically when the policies are being implemented, and local governments need to pro-ceed according to local conditions in order to prevent unintended reverse effects from happening.